Guide You Home
by rainingonsunday
Summary: Hugo discovered a way to bring back all those that had died on the island. But both sides are now back, one light, one dark, and reunions are balanced with turmoil. Rated T for language. Please review!
1. A Distant Echo

"_What if the storm ends_

_and I don't see you as you are now_

_ever again. _

_What if the storm ends_

_and leaves us nothing except a memory._

_A distant echo…"_

_-S_now_ P_atrol

Thirteen years.

Thirteen years since she had last been on the island. Thirteen years since Ajira Flight 316 crashed on the island, since she had last had to fret for her life, since she had traveled through time, since she had tried and failed to move on with her life, move on without them, those that had died… move on without him.

Thirteen years since she had said goodbye to him. Thirteen long, difficult years. And yet, in those years, her memories of that moment did not fade, not even a bit. She could still remember her sobs, the sad shake of his head, the desperate, longing exchange of "I love you," and worst of all, watching him walk away.

"_Kate… you've gotta go, and get Claire on that plane." Jack approaches her, hands clasped over the wound on his side. They both remain silent for a moment, staring at each other as if trying to record every last detail in their memories._

"_Tell me I'm going to see you again." Kate pleads, but Jack just shakes his head. He doesn't say anything; he doesn't need to. Kate moves towards him, and their lips meet for one final kiss. She pulls away before saying her last words to him. The last words he heard out of her mouth before he died saving them all._

"_I love you."_

_He smiles before replying hoarsely, "I love you…" He turns and walks away, one hand on his side over his wound, the other out to balance himself as he staggered to what would be his doom. _

Today was a particularly rough day for Kate Austen. It was September 22, 2020, the sixteen year anniversary of the day that fate began its course and Oceanic Flight 815 crashed onto the island, the anniversary of the day that she met Jack. Sixteen years ago to this day was when she first met the man she loved, and it was a day each year that she spent in mourning, remember all that she and Jack had been through together.

Kate pulled out the old wooden box from her closet and sat on her bed to sort through its contents. Upon opening it, she found herself staring at the first of many of the photos that the box held. It was one of Jack, Aaron, and her. Their expressions were carefree; they looked happy. Anyone that didn't know better would say that they made a lovely husband and wife and that their son was beautiful. But they weren't husband and wife. They had never gotten that chance before they had broken up. Nor was Aaron their son. They had tried and failed to play the part of a normal family. It just wasn't in the cards for them; fate had other plans.

As she stared at the photos of times gone by, memories of Jack played in her head like a movie reel. She could see each scene clearly, as if only a few days had passed since they had happened, not over a decade.

"…_and the terror was just so… crazy… so real. And I knew I had to deal with it. So I just made a choice: I'd let the fear in, let it take over, let it do its thing. But only for five seconds. That's all I was gonna give it. So I started to count. One… two… three… four… five. And it was gone."_

Kate knew that story by heart. Ironically, it had helped her get through the painful first years after Jack's death. No matter where she was, she could always just close her eyes, count to five, and she could imagine him next to her, counting along.

"_If you're thinking about going for the cockpit, I'm going with you." _

_Jack paused before saying, "I don't know your name…" He chuckled slightly._

_Kate smiled before answering, "I'm Kate."_

"_Jack."_

Thinking back on that fireside conversation their first night on the island, Kate laughed at the odd fact that she had stitched up a gash in his back, he had shared a personal story with her, and all that time, during their first meeting, it never occurred to either of them that they did not know each other's names. But now, Kate thought, she wouldn't have changed their time together back then for anything, because they needed to have gone through all that to get where they were going.

Snippets of conversations they had shared flashed through her thoughts. Her memories of his voice hadn't faded any more than the rest of her memories of him had.

"_All the misery that we've been through would all just wipe clean. It never happened…"_

"_It was not all misery."_

"_I'm sorry I kissed you…"_

"_I'm not."_

"_I need you to make me a promise Kate… promise me that you'll never come back."_

"_I couldn't find you…"_

"_Will you marry me?"_

"_I have always been with you."_

Kate sighed, letting the plethora of memories wash over her. Like she had once told him, their time on the island was _not_ all misery. The three years that she had known him were some of the best years of her life. When she was with him, it didn't matter who she used to be, who she had been before the crash. _"It doesn't matter who we were., what we did before this. Three days ago we all died. We should all be able to start over." _Jack had spoken those words and they had pierced her heart like a knife. To Jack, she wasn't a criminal, a murderer, a thief…. She was just… Kate. None of the rest mattered as long as she was with him.

And now here she was. She had been without him for thirteen years. Sometimes she wished she could return to the island again, just to see for herself if he might still be there, might still be alive. But she knew in her heart that it would be a waste. Jack's death wasn't one of those things that she needed to be told about; she could feel it in her bones, shaking her soul like an earthquake.

Kate stood up, placing the box of photographs on the bed, and crossed the room to pop a CD into her radio. She hit the "play" button and listened at the song began, the song that she always listened to on this day, her day of remembering him.

"_This is the way you left me_

_I'm not pretending_

_No hope, no love, no glory, no happy ending._

_This is the way that we loved, like its forever._

_Then live the rest of our life, but not together…" (Mika)_

On cue, tears formed in her eyes. A song could help a person cope with whatever their life threw at them, she found. And this particular song plucked at her heartstrings; there was no happy ending. Not without Jack.

Forty-eight. That was the number of people that had survived the initial crash of Oceanic Flight 815. Of those forty-eight, only four had survived the events of the three following years. And of those four, only three had returned home from the island.

Three lone survivors of that fateful day that Flight 815 crashed on the island. Three people with stories that would baffle audiences for ages. And still, those three people: Kate Austen, James Ford, and Claire Littleton, had not shared their story with anyone, had not told anyone about the island, with only one exception: Aaron Littleton.

As Kate headed for the kitchen to brew herself a pot of coffee, she stopped to look at the photo of Claire and Aaron on her table. The boy had grown since the three years that Kate had raised him as her own. Upon returning from the island on Ajira 316, Kate and Claire had revealed to him the truth about who his mother was. It was a lot for a three-year-old boy to take in, but he somehow understood. He had lived with his mother for the past thirteen years, and was now a tall, toned sixteen year old with short blond hair. It was stupid of her to think so, but she couldn't help but wonder at the fact that Aaron looked strangely like Charlie. It was impossible, she knew. But there was something about Aaron that reminded her of his surrogate father, who had sacrificed himself so that they rest of them could be rescued. Aaron had heard the story about his "father," or, at least who he thought of as his father. He had met his biological father, Thomas, a few times in his lifetime, but Aaron had come to his own decision that he didn't want the man in his life. Claire had told him about how Thomas had walked out on her, and Aaron being as close to his mother as he now was, he wouldn't forgive Thomas for that. Charlie was his father. He insisted on that, even if it wasn't biologically true.

He had heard stories about the rock star his mother had fallen in love with on the island. Being that he had only been a tiny baby at the time, Aaron himself didn't have any memories of the island, or of Charlie. Claire had filled him in, telling him about everything from the heroine addiction to the peanut butter, and Kate had told him further stories on top of those ones. He had researched Charlie Pace online, and Kate would never forget the day she visited and saw Aaron's DriveShaft poster hanging on his bedroom wall.

Kate smiled once more at the photograph before her eyes moved to the one beside it, the one that had been taken shortly after arriving home for good thirteen years ago. Seven faces smiled up at her from within the frame: Claire, three-year-old Aaron, James, Miles, Frank, Richard, and herself. She had a more recently taken one of them all in one of the other rooms, and not much had changed from this one to that, except of course for Aaron and maybe a few more gray hairs scattered among the rest of them. She saw Claire and Aaron almost every week now that they lived in Los Angeles, and she still got together with both James and Miles regularly. Frank and Richard seemed to be the only ones that were harder to keep in touch with. Frank was constantly off flying one plane or another, making a living as best he could, and as for Richard… well, Richard continued to be the walking enigma that he had always been. The man had lived on the island for over a century, it couldn't have been easy for him to adjust to living around here in modern times.

Mentally reminding herself that she had been craving coffee, Kate headed to the kitchen and put a pot on to brew, cleaning up a few things around the room while she waited. She had just finished washing the last of the dishes when she heard the doorbell ring.

_Ding dong. Ding dong. _

She didn't know it then, but all her prayers were about to be answered. That was when she opened her front door and found herself face to face with a man she hadn't seen since the last time she had seen Jack. She almost didn't recognized him; his hair was shorter than it used to be, and he had lost a significant amount of weight, probably due to the fact that he had lived for over a decade on an island where his typical meal included fish and mangos. But nonetheless, Kate knew almost instantly that the man in front of her was none other than Hugo Reyes. What she didn't know, however, was what was in store for her.


	2. Tomorrow

"_Go on living, don't stop loving._

_Please find something you can put your heart into._

_And if the sun comes up without me tomorrow,_

_You'll be fine._

_Just let it shine on you."_

_-T_race _A_dkins

A smile seemed to stick to the face of one James Ford as he walked down the streets of Los Angeles with his daughter, Clementine, by his side. They strolled casually, with no particular destination in mind; just out for the exercise while they got caught up on what had been going on in the last week or so since they had last talked. They tried to get together at least once every two weeks, if not more often; sometimes, Clementine's mother, Cassidy, would join them. More often than not, though, it was just the two of them, as it was that day.

It had taken James a few long, rough months to finally convince Cassidy to let him meet his daughter, let alone be alone to talk with her like he was now. He remembered the first day he had seen Cassidy again after he had returned home. He remembered how she had casually showed up at Kate's house, eager to see her friend again, completely unaware that the father of her child was sitting in the next room.

_James sat on the couch in the home that Kate and Jack had used to share. Now, fragments of the life they had once shared in this place were apparent in the framed photographs scattered around the tables and above the fireplace, like ghosts of all their yesterdays. With Jack gone… dead, as they all knew he probably was, but wouldn't say aloud… that's exactly what the photos were. Ghosts. Memories of times gone by, times they could never get back._

_He felt awkward, sitting here, on Jack's couch. He did not belong here. But then again, neither did Miles, Richard, or Claire, who all either sat next to him to on the other couch facing him. Kate came into the room, five glasses of ice on a tray in one hand, a pitcher of iced tea in the other. James stood to help her, taking the tray and putting it on the small coffee table next to the couch. Kate was about to pour tea into the first of the glasses when the phone began to ring._

"_You should probably get that…" James said as he reached out to take the pitcher from her hands. Kate merely nodded as she handed it over to him. Besides the sound of the phone ringing, it was deathly quiet in the house. It was so weird, being here. In the 'real' world. It had been almost two weeks, but they still couldn't shake the feeling that they'd wake up any moment, with the sun on their face and sights of the beach or the jungle in their eyes. But they never did wake up, for this wasn't a dream. They were really back home. _

"_Hello?" James heard Kate say into the phone as he began pouring glasses of iced tea for the others._

"_Oh my God… yes!…Good to hear from you too…. Of course you can come over." From their spots in the living room, James and the others could only make out snippets of the conversation. They assumed that it was an old friend calling, but James felt a shiver on the back of his neck. An old friend? Nah, it couldn't be her… could it?_

_He kicked himself out of his worries when Kate reentered the room. In response to their questioning glances, she shrugged and told them that a friend was coming by to see her. She looked like she was about to make a move to sit on the couch next to Claire, but James stepped in her path, looking straight into her eyes and saying quietly, "Can I talk to you for a minute?"_

_Kate looked up at him and nodded, knowing fully where this conversation was headed. The two of them excused themselves, leaving Miles, Richard, and Claire to sip their iced tea while they went into the kitchen for privacy. _

"_You son of a bitch…" James muttered, as if that were any way to start a conversation._

"_Look, I'm sorry…" Kate began._

"_You could have at least warned me!" James cut her off._

"_You've got to face her sometime James!" _

"_Yeah, but I'd rather have a choice as to when I do so."_

"_You're a coward."_

"_Am I?"_

"_Yes. You are. Look, James, I want you to be in Clementine's life as much as you want it. I'm just trying to help you get there. And I know if I left it up to you, it might be months, maybe even years, before you get enough courage to so much as look at Cass. Just do it now and get it over with."_

_They were both silent for a moment, until James finally relented. He couldn't seem to make his mouth form words, so he just nodded and turned to go back to the other room when Kate grabbed his arm to stop him._

"_I'm sorry." she said quietly. _

"_You don't need to be," he said after a moment. "You're right. Might as well get it over with now, before I talk myself out of it."_

_Kate smiled and released his arm. "She'll be here in about half an hour…" James nodded and returned to the next room. Neither of them filled the others in on what their discussion in the kitchen had been about, and none of them asked. It was Kate that suggested that they play a game of picture charades to get their minds off of things. She went to the closet and pulled out a decent sized dry erase board and markers._

"_You play this much?" Miles questioned. Kate grinned and gave James a quick glance before answering._

"_I used to play all the time with a friend of mine."_

_James knew who she was talking about. Cassidy was a whiz when it came to charades of any kind. Maybe that's why conning people had come so naturally to her…_

"_Okay, I guess I'll go first." Kate said, and Miles hit the start button on the stop watch on his cell phone while she began to draw._

_In the next twenty minutes or so the five of them went through about every island-related picture they could think of to draw. Richard was about to begin his next turn when the doorbell rang. Kate excused herself to go answer it while Richard took his turn._

"_Hey!" James could hear Kate answer the door, and despite the cacophony their shouts were making, he could also hear what he knew was Cassidy's voice. Cassidy didn't even know he was here…_

_James momentarily forgot about the situation when he recognized what Richard was drawing. "Polar bear!" he shouted, and Richard nodded, confirming that he was correct. "Seriously, can't we have one round that doesn't have anything to do with the island?" James complained as, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kate reenter the room, Cassidy close behind. His heart stopped for a moment, just long enough to remind him that this wasn't a dream._

_Cassidy, caught off guard as she was, stopped dead when she saw him, her face frozen in an expression of disbelief. Nearly six years had passed since she has last seen James; the last thing she had been expecting was to walk into Kate's house and see him sitting on the couch playing charades. Before she could pull herself out of her frozen state to tell him off, or storm back out of the house, or say any of the many hurtful things that popped into her mind to say, he smiled at her. "Hey Cass…" he said softly, and she fought with her emotions, wondering what the hell was going on. _

_Miles, Richard, and Claire, meanwhile, were all wearing identical confused expressions. Miles looked back and forth between James to Cassidy, to Kate, and back to James. "You know her?" he asked skeptically._

_James chuckled under his breath and replied, "Yeah, I know her…"_

"_Well…" Cassidy said. "Didn't expect to see you here." There was an awkward silence for a moment, and then Cassidy turned to Kate. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come." And before anyone could stop her, she was headed for the door._

_James made a move to follow her, but the look Kate gave him stopped him. "Give me a minute." she said almost inaudibly, but James understood, and he just nodded. Kate turned and went outside after Cassidy._

"_Cass!" she called once she was outside, seeing her friend just a few steps from her car. "Cass, wait…" she said, approaching her._

"_Look, it's good to see you, Kate, but I have better things to do than waste my time making small talk with a good-for-nothing son of a bitch conman who made it pretty clear he didn't want anything to do with me or his daughter." Her jaw was set in a determined way, her hand hovering over the door handle on her car._

"_Cass… just… just give him a chance. It's been years since the James you used to know existed. He's changed. He… he's a good man, Cass. Please… just stay. Just for a little bit, anyway. If not for him, then do it for me."_

_Cassidy seemed to weight the situation in her mind. If Kate said he was worth her time… well, Kate had never exactly given her any reason not to believe her. Maybe, just maybe, she'd give him a chance. If anything, it seemed like the only way she'd be able to spend time with Kate today. She was just about to relent and tell Kate her decision when movement behind her friend caught her eye. _

_The mixed emotions Cassidy felt when she saw him left her feeling a bit dizzy, but she bit her lip and stared James down as he stepped out onto the porch, pulling the door closed behind him. He gave Kate a pointed look, and Kate glanced between James and Cassidy before lowering her head slightly and heading back towards the house. As she passed James, he placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her for a moment, just long enough to whisper the words "Thank you." _

_When Kate went back into the house, James stared at the porch beneath his feet for a few seconds before looking up at Cassidy and making his way down the steps and along the narrow sidewalk to her. Whatever Cassidy had been expecting, whether it be a string of insults, demanding that he get to see his daughter, or just plain asking her to leave, she did not get. Instead, James just lifted his eyes to meet her own before asking in a gruff voice, "Want to play some charades?"_

_Cassidy tried to hide her shocked expression from him, but James saw right through her mask. As good as she was at the game of charades, he knew she had never been all that good at hiding her emotions from him. When she finally got a hold of herself, Cassidy kept her face straight as she replied, "Sure."_

_To his surprise, James could not hold back a smile at her response. Granted, it was a small one, barely a grin, but it was an honest smile. He nodded his head in the direction of the house. "Well, alright then. Common." He took a few steps towards the house, and her voice brought him back to a halt. _

"_James." The name came out somewhat shaky, and James could tell that she knew what she wanted to say, but did not quite know how to say it. He turned to face her again, simultaneously reaching up a hand to run a hand through his hair. _

"_Yeah?" he said in a soft voice, reassuring her troubled thoughts, letting her know that Kate was right; James was a changed man. But how? How does a man like that change? What force could be so strong as to drive a man to change his manner, to change the very way he walked the earth?_

_Cassidy took a few steps toward him, closing the gap between them before speaking again. "What happened?" She somewhat blurted out, eager to get to the bottom of the change she saw in the man before her. He gave her a confused look, not quite sure what she meant before she clarified. "I mean… you're different. It'd odd, really. You look like him, you sound like him… but you don't act like the man I used to know, the man I used to love." She looked up at him, into his deep green eyes, and he returned her gaze for a moment before again running a hand through his sandy blond hair and replying._

"_Well, I was on an island for three years…" he began, the smallest fraction of sarcasm seeping into his voice, and for a moment Cassidy saw a hint of the old him, the one she was familiar with. So he hadn't changed all that much…_

_She didn't speak. She simply gave him a look that said, "I'm aware of that, you ass hole. Now tell me what I really want to know."_

_He seemed to understand what her stare meant, and he sighed before continuing. _

"_Okay… there was a girl." he admitted, and for the first time she smiled faintly at him. She had known that she could coax the truth out of him. Now all she needed was the details, anything that might help her decide if she could trust him._

"_We lived there together, me and her… for three years." He didn't mention the fact that most of those three years had been spent in the 1970's… but he figured if he was trying to get her to trust him, it'd be best to stick to a believable truth. "I was gonna ask her to marry me, had the ring and everything…" he paused, collecting himself, "… but I never got the chance before she died." He looked so honestly miserable talking about it, Cassidy knew without a shadow of a doubt that he had loved this woman. What was it like, she wondered, to have someone love you like that, with every fiber of their very being? She had thought that she had had such a love with James, but that was before she learned that she was only part of one of his cons, like a little piece in a game he called his life. What a life he had had, she thought; he had lost his parents to a murder-suicide at the young age of eight, had to rely on conning people to make a living for so many years, got stranded on an island for three years thanks to a God-forsaken plane crash, and on top of all that, he had lost the woman he loved to death's cold hands. For a moment, Cassidy admitted silently to herself, she actually felt sorry for the man in front of her._

"_What was her name?" she asked quietly, curious about the woman that had made James into the man he was today. _

"_Juliet." His heart wrenched when he tasted her name on his lips. He stared at the ground, avoiding eye contact with Cassidy, and she knew better than to press him further on the subject. The two of them were silent for a few long moments before Cassidy spoke up._

"_So, how 'bout those charades?" James smiled at her, thankful for the icebreaker, before turning and leading her back to the house._

_As she joined James, Kate, and their friends in their game of charades, Cassidy couldn't help her glances at James, so perplexed by the change she saw in him. She had once thought that she knew him, but now, she found that the conman in him was gone. She found herself wishing she had more time alone with him, wanting to get to know him all over again. But for now, she'd have to settle with what she had._

James and Clementine continued to stroll side-by-side, oblivious to the world around them as they talked.

"Sawyer…" a voice behind him stopped James in his tracks. No one called him Sawyer anymore… no one. At least no one that had known him in the last thirteen years, since he had left the island. But this voice sounded so familiar…

James turned slowly, mouth agape with confusion when his gaze landed on the owner of the voice. Sure, the man was essentially unfamiliar. He was thinner, with shorter hair than the man that he used to know. But that voice… that face… James knew immediately who he was.

"Hugo?" he said, disbelief apparent in his voice and in his face. What the hell was going on here? He hadn't seen this man since that last day on the island, shortly before he and five others had taken off on the plane and never looked back.

"Hey dude." Hugo said.

Thirteen years. Thirteen years of thinking the island was gone. Thirteen years of thinking Hugo and the others they had left behind were gone as well. There were so many questions James had to ask, so many things he wanted to know. But only four words escaped his mouth.

"Son of a bitch."


	3. Lost Without You

"_And I won't forget you, don't regret you._

_The hardest thing I've had to do is live without you._

_I'm lost without you, still crazy for you._

_Just turn around, come back,_

_because your smile is overdue._

_And I miss, I miss you."_

-_T_yler _W_ard

It was strange, really, how quickly things can change. One minute your train of life is heading down a straight-a-way, heading towards a brighter future, and the next thing you know, it's stopping for fuel before turning around and heading right back into your past. You never really know when your life is going to make a turn like that. It made a turn that fateful day that Oceanic Flight 815 crashed onto the island. It made that turn the day the freighter exploded, leaving a select few stranded on the island for yet another three years. It again made that turn the day they had left on Ajira 316. And, of course, just when you think your life's finally not going to make anymore incredible turns with unknown outcomes, you see a man known as Hugo Reyes while you're out for a walk with your daughter.

James still could not shake the startled feeling that had settled on his mind when he first saw Hugo standing there, and that had happened a few days earlier. Now, he sat in Kate's living room, on the same couch on which he had been seated the day he had first seen Cassidy again. The circumstances were quite different that day, though, for a new face was joining them, a face none of them had seen in thirteen years.

Hugo was rattling on; something about a reset button, or who knows what. James didn't quite grasp what exactly his point was. Reset button? What kind of reset button? Somehow, after all they'd been through on the island, it did not surprise him in the slightest that there might be a "reset button," as Hugo called it. But what did it reset? Hmm… he supposed this might be a good time to start paying full attention to what was being said.

"…anyway, what I'm trying to say, is that everyone we lost on the island, everyone that died… they're alive. Sayid, Jin, Sun, Charlie… all of them." Hugo exchanged glances with the others in the room, trying to figure out if he was getting his point across. Kate, Claire, Miles and Richard all wore similar confused expressions to the one on James' face. Hugo sighed, not understanding why this was so difficult to understand. Seriously, if they can move the island and travel through time, why in the world should they not get the whole reset button thing?

"So, the reason I'm here, dudes, is to bring you guys back. Back to the island. 'Cause I figured you'd want to see them. The ones that came back, I mean." That, they understood. Back? Why would they want to go back, after all the time they'd spent trying to get as far away from the God-damned island as they could? Hugo knew there was a simple answer to that: each of them had lost someone close to them on that island. If there was any chance they'd be able to see them again, they'd take it.

Hugo looked James dead in the eye and asked, "Don't you want to see Juliet again?"

James froze. The way Hugo had been talking, he had just figured that it was only the 815 passengers that were back. He never imagined in his wildest dreams that he'd get to be reunited with Juliet…

A smiled seeped its way onto his face, before he could stop it, when he thought about that. "I'm in." he said sharply, nodding to Hugo.

"Me too," came Kate's reply instantly after. As if on cue, Claire also agreed readily, her mind swimming with thoughts of Charlie.

Miles and Richard seemed to take longer to consider the invitation, but eventually they both agreed to return as well: Miles to see his father, and Richard just because he still thought of the island as his home.

A few days passed, full of running around and packing for the return to the island, and before he knew it, James found himself on a submarine headed for the hell-hole he had spent three years trying to escape and thirteen years trying to forget.

But he couldn't forget, not now anyway; not on the sub, with his friends around him, headed for the island. Headed for Juliet. He felt like a red-neck Romeo; every fiber of his being was intent on finding his Juliet, on never losing her again. He'd said far too many goodbyes in his lifetime, and he didn't intend on saying any more.

He had been lost on that island. But being without Juliet was a different kind of lost. Being lost without her was a kind of lost that he could never learn to live with. He had never become adjusted to life without her.

"You gonna be okay, James?" He heard a voice behind him, and turned around to find himself face to face with Richard, who was standing in the doorway of the little room in which he stayed during the first part of the submarine trip.

"Yeah…" he replied, pausing to collect his thoughts, when abrupt movement behind Richard caught his eye. Aaron came into the room, a distraught expression on his face. James sighed, wondering what the problem was; he still could not believe they had brought Aaron along with them. Sure, he was a grown man now and could make his own decisions, but still, they had gone through so much trouble to make sure Aaron never returned.

"My mom…. She… fine one minute… fainted. Don't know why…" Aaron stuttered, out of breath. It was obvious that he had dashed to get there.

"What?" Richard asked, "Who? Who fainted?" He glanced at James, his eyes asking the other man if he knew what was going on, but James just shook his head slightly, as perplexed as Richard was.

"My mom." Aaron answered, now regaining his breath, and before James and Richard had time to contemplate what might have happened to Claire, both of them also fainted, sprawling out on the floor of the sub like ragdolls. Aaron stood over the both of them, barely breathing, scared out of his mind. Assuming that he'd be the next to faint, Aaron took a seat on one of the metal chairs in the room, buried his head in his hands, and tried to clear his thoughts. A minute passes… then five… then half an hour… After an hour, Aaron wondered why everyone else on the sub had fainted but him, and raised his head to look around. James and Richard were still lying where they had fallen; everything was as it was… except…

He couldn't quite place it, what it was about the two men that seemed different. He stepped closer and the realization hit him. The gray hairs were gone from their heads, the lines lightened from their face... They literally looked ten years younger.

Hurley entered then, and judging by the expression on his face, Aaron could tell that he knew exactly what was going on. Hurley glanced between the two unconscious figures at his feet and Aaron, and back again, before muttering, "Dude… I can't believe it worked."

"What worked?" Aaron was on his feet now, stepping closer to Hurley and the other two men, wanting to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"I kinda, uh… made it so that when they went back to the island, everyone would be the same age they were when they left. Except you, 'cause I kinda figured that you probably wouldn't want to repeat like twelve years of schooling, if you know what I mean."

"Appreciate that…" Aaron said as he bent over James and Richard. "When will they wake up?"

"How long've they been out?"

"About an hour, I guess…"

"Soon, then."

Within the next ten minutes, Claire came into the room on unsteady feet. Seeing that Aaron was okay, she moved forward and hugged him before turning to Hurley for an explanation. Before Hugo could say anything, though, Kate also came into the room, followed by Miles, and James and Richard began to wake. Once everyone was conscious and of a clear enough mind to understand, Hurley filled the rest of them in on what had happened to them.

He had barely finished relaying his explanation to his friends when they felt the submarine come to a stop.

They had arrived back at the island.


	4. Forget About Me

"_When we learn how to fly, we forget how to walk._

_When we learn how to sing, don't want to hear each other talk._

_When we know what we want, we forget what we need._

_When you find who you are, you forget about me."_

-_T_rain

*A few days earlier*

A brunette haired woman, wearing jeans and a casual sweater, sat alone at a table in a small diner in Los Angeles, absentmindedly sipping her coffee. Her attention was focused on the man seated at the counter across the room, who was slowly working his way through a slice of the diner's finest apple pie. But that pie was not what had her attention. No, her attention was on the bag that was slung over the back of the man's chair. It was the same sort of bag a mailman might carry, but a mailman's bag would not have that logo on it. From across the room, she could barely make it out, but there was, without a doubt, the logo of the Dharma Initiative on that bag. _But why_, she wondered, _would a man be carrying a Dharma bag now, about forty-some years since the existence of the Initiative?_

After sipping her coffee and none-too inconspicuously looking the man's way for another few minutes, her curiosity finally got the better of her, and she stood, coffee cup in hand, and went over to the counter of the diner.

"Can I get a refill on this?" she asked the waitress behind the counter, taking a seat a few bar stools away from the man with the Dharma bag. "…and maybe a slice of that delicious looking pie this guy here has," she added with a pointed glance at the only other customer seated at the counter.

The man did not so much as glance her way, still staring holes into the remainder of his pie, his face shadowed by the long locks of dirty-blond hair that reached halfway down his neck. He poked at his pie absentmindedly with his fork, lost in thought, as if that pie held some hidden answers to his unasked questions.

Both of them were silent for a few minutes while the woman thought about the man and his out-of-place Dharma bag. She figured that the only way the man would be affiliated with the Dharma Initiative would be if he was either in the Initiative himself, or he spent time on that island during Dharma's time. She figured by what she could see of him that he was no more than a couple of years older than her at the most. That ruled out the possibility that he was a Dharma member, for she had been a mere child herself when the Initiative was in effect. But perhaps he had been a child on that island alongside her.

Maybe he was the boy…

No, he was not the boy she had befriended in her childhood. She chided herself for even letting that thought enter her mind. Of course he was not the boy. The blond hair told her so simply enough.

Oh, how she had often thought about that boy throughout the years. She wondered about him, even now. She wondered what had become of him, if he had survived the incident after she and her mother had been evacuated with so many others, and if he had, what kind of man he was today.

Certainly, he was no Prince Charming, but then again, neither were any of the men she had dated in her lifetime, most definitely not her ex-husband. And here she was, divorced and single, with her fondest memories of any man stuck with that shy little boy from her childhood.

She would find him someday, of that she had always been positive. She had known from the beginning that finding him would not be easy. But never had she imagined it would be so hard. It was as if that boy had disappeared from the face of the Earth.

There had been times when she had wished she could go back to the start, never leave the island, never leave the boy…

But since it was not possible to travel through time, travel back to her days on the island spent with the boy; she had dismissed those thoughts quickly after they had arisen.

She was suddenly jostled from her thoughts when a plate was set in front of her with a tempting slice of pie on it. The waitress poured fresh coffee into the woman's mug, smiling a signature waitress smile at her soft "Thank you," before turning and going back into the kitchen behind her.

She pushed the thoughts of the boy on the island out of her mind. It was no use trying to find him. Besides, that boy had probably forgotten all about her long ago.

She shot another glance the man's way, and did a double-take when she realized he was no longer seated there.

She quickly turned in her seat when she heard the bells on the door of the diner jingle, and saw the man's retreating figure as he exited the diner and turned to go down the street. The woman hastily threw a few bills on the counter beside her untouched pie and coffee and went outside after him. She spotted him on the street corner, waiting for an opportunity to cross the street through the busy Los Angeles traffic. She quickly caught up with him, thinking fast of what she should say to get him to share with her who he was and whether he was with Dharma. Whether he wanted her to know or not, she would learn the secret of the man with the Dharma bag.

Before she could approach him, however, a young woman's voice called out above the cacophony of the traffic.

"Dad!"

The man turned and smiled at someone behind the woman and before she knew it a young woman, maybe in her early twenties, was throwing her arms around the man and he was returning the embrace with a smile on his face.

The woman had lost her chance at speaking with the man, but in that moment when he had turned and she had seen his face for the first time, she had realized why it was that the man had a Dharma Initiative bag.

And although he was not the boy from the island, and although she was instantly confused as to why this man looked the same way he did forty years ago, she knew this man, and a soft whisper escaped her mouth as she watched him with his daughter.

"LaFleur…"


	5. No Happy Ending

**A/N: I know, I know. No new chapter in how long? I'm afraid to even check. Busy life, and what not. Lack of creative spark. But I have the next like 3 chapters each half written, so expect some more updates coming hopefully soon! Sorry to all my followers for the wait!**

_"This is the way you left me_

_I'm not pretending_

_No hope, no love, no glory_

_No happy ending"_

_-M_ika

He should have known better.

James could not keep from cursing under his breath when they reached Dharmaville. With everything this island had thrown at him over the years, he should not have been expecting his arrival at the barracks to be juxtaposed with a reunion with his true love. Where would be the fun in that?

It had been unsettling enough to step out of the submarine to an almost deserted dock with one lone figure there to greet them: that bug-eyed son of a bitch, Ben. Then, just as they began their trek to Dharmaville, Richard had basically disappeared, slipping away from the group unnoticed. And now, here they were with the Dharma barracks before them, disappointed expressions etched onto all of their faces, with the exceptions of Ben and Hurley, and perhaps Miles, who seemed a little more skeptical of the whole situation than the rest of them.

Dharmaville, James noted, was in far better shape than the last time he had seen it. Those left behind after he and the others had left on Ajira 316 had had plenty of time to fix the place up. The buildings were no longer in shambles, everything had a fresh coat of paint on it, and flowers were planted everywhere one looked. The village had the same sort of feel to it as it had back in the good old Dharma days, albeit the lack of Dharma vans and hippie-clad people walking around. Now there were no blue vehicles parked here and there. There were no Initiative members in jumpsuits going to and from their work assignments, walking without a care in the world.

To be exact, there weren't any people walking about the village at all; not quite the scenario any of the group had been picturing, James could tell. There was no one there waiting for them. No Juliet. No Jack… no Charlie… No one at all.

"Don't let the quiet fool you, there are a handful of people waiting in one of the houses…" Ben trailed off before continuing in his usual monotone voice, "… but not any of those that I suppose you most wish to see."

No one had a response to that, so James took it upon himself to break the awkward silence. "Lead the way," he said, motioning with one arm for Ben to take them to where everyone was waiting.

With Ben in the lead, the group made their way to one of the houses, which, if James remembered correctly, was the house where Miles and Jin had lived during their years with Dharma. Glancing at Miles, James silently asked the question, and Miles nodded in response.

Ben pushed open the door of the house without bothering to knock, and the rest of the group followed to find seven sets of eyes looking at them. Not a single set belonged to Juliet, and James had to admit that he was no particularly excited to see most of them. He surveyed the room quickly, spotting the crazy French lady, and the red-headed anthropologist woman… oh, what the hell were their names again… and that scatter-brained physicist Faraday. There was also another man whom James did not recognize, assuming he was probably an Other. And then there was that destiny-driven bald-headed man who, last time James saw him, was actually a smoke monster using the guise of the man seated before him now.

"Locke," a smile played on James' face as the older man stood to greet him.

After everyone in the room had finished greeting each other, Daniel began to explain his theory of how exactly this all had happened, and James took the opportunity to slip outside unnoticed.

Once out of the door, he stopped for a moment, thinking of the most logical places that Juliet could be. Deciding that the beach camp would be a good place to start, James began to stride towards the jungle in that direction, but before he even made it to the tree line, a voice stopped him.

"Where are you going?"

James turned to see Claire watching him from the porch of the house he had just left. By way of answering, he silently held her gaze for a moment. She knew as well as anyone where he was going. Claire just nodded in return, silent for a moment.

"Mind if I come?"

Well, James would have preferred to make the journey alone, but how could he possibly tell her no? She just wanted to see Charlie again, just like he wanted to see Juliet. The old James, the confidence man who had crashed on this island almost two decades ago, would have simply told her no and have gone without her. But the new James had too good of a heart to let her down.

"Of course I don't mind," he replied.

They set off side-by-side, neither of them saying anything. They didn't have to. They both knew what the other was going through. Both of their minds were swarming with memories, thinking about what was to come for them if they did, in fact, find the ones they were looking for.

_"Juliet… you're gonna be okay. I'm gonna get you out of here and we're all gonna go home..."_

James lowered his gaze to the jungle floor as he walked, remembering the last few moments he had spent with Juliet before she had died in his arms, trying to hide his emotions from Claire, although he knew she was probably feeling similarly.

_"You didn't! Peanut butter? No way!"_

_"Just like you ordered… oh! There is one thing. It's extra smooth."_

_"It's okay…" Claire smiles as Charlie kneels next to her and takes a jar out of his bag. He looks at it with wonder while Claire's expression turns to one of confusion._

_"It's empty."_

_"What? No. No it's not. It's full. Full to the brim..." He takes a finger and pretends to scoop up some of the peanut butter with it. "…with stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth …oh God, it makes you want a glass of milk… extra smooth…" He pops his finger into his mouth and licks the treat off of it. Claire smiles at him as he sighs with joy._

_"It's the best bloody peanut butter I've ever tasted. Want some?"_

_Claire giggles before dipping her finger into the jar to get her own share of the peanut butter…_

Claire smiled as she remembered the peanut butter, both the pretend jar and the real thing that Charlie had later found in the hatch. She glanced at James, wondering what was going through his head.

_James and Juliet sat on the Dharmaville dock, the submarine behind them. Juliet tells James she's going home… she's leaving. But, she can't. It won't be the same… it's 1974, whatever she wants to go home to doesn't even exist yet._

_"That's not a reason not to go." She tells him when he says as much._

_"Well what about me?" he asks, and she turns to look at him. "Are you really gonna leave me here with the mad scientist, and Mr. I speak to dead people… and Jin, who's a hell of a nice guy, but not exactly the greatest conversationalist…"_

_"You'll be fine." Juliet tells him, smiling._

_"Maybe… who's gonna get my back?" They look at each other and smile._

_"Come on…" James pleads. "Just give me two weeks, that's all I'm asking. Two weeks."_

_Juliet looks at him one more, shakes her head slightly, not quite believing what she was saying. "Alright… two weeks," and the grin James gives her in return is well worth it._

James smiled as he and Claire continued on their way. Both of them needed this direly. They needed to find what they were looking for, so they just walked, in silence, both being pulled along by their memories as if they were an invisible thread.


	6. Unanswered Prayers

**A/N: Thank you to everyone that picked back up reading this story again after that hiatus! And also, thanks to those that reviewed the last chapter! Here's a little look into what some of the people on the island are up to…**

_"It's everything you wanted, it's everything you don't._

_It's one door swinging open, and one door swinging closed._

_Some prayers find an answer, some prayers never know_

_We're holding on, and letting go."_

-_R_oss _C_opperman

What was the point of having a life if you could not share it with the one you loved?

Ever since he had opened his eyes in this new life, he could not help but ponder over one question. Why? Why was he here? What was the purpose of this? He had found Ben, but the bug-eyed man did not seem to have any answers for him. Other than him, Daniel was the only person he had managed to find so far. Jack had come out here, into the thick of the jungle, looking for anyone else he might be able to find. He had been walking for a few days now, and he could tell that he was approaching the spot where their old beach camp had been, back when they had first crashed here. Surely, the camp must be dilapidated by now, of no real use to anyone as shelter. But, perhaps someone else had gone there, knowing it was a logical location if you wanted to find somebody or to be found yourself.

It was just past nightfall when jack finally came up to his destination. His steps were not rather careful while he crossed the last dozen yards or so of jungle before it merged with the beach, and twigs cracked under his feet with ever step. He certainly had made his approach known, so it was no surprise when he could spot through the foliage the glistening barrel of a rifle pointed his way.

As Jack took a few more steps, further closing the gap, he heard a familiar voice calling, "Come out!"

Before he revealed himself to the man with the rifle, he stifled a laugh and called back, "Why, you gonna shoot me, Sayid?" He stepped out from the jungle with a smile on his face. The last time he had seen Sayid… It was _his_ fault Sayid had been shot. He was the one who had been unable to save him.

It was so good to see him alive again.

Sayid lowered the rifle when he saw who it was that came out of the jungle, a smile slowly spreading across his face as well. He quickly stepped forward to embrace the other man before glancing over his shoulder. "Come on, the others will be pleased to see you." He smiled once more before turning and motioning for Jack to follow him, and Jack obliged, curious as to who else was here. They made their way down from the jungle to an area a little further down the beach where a small campfire was burning.

"Where'd you get that thing, anyway?" Jack asked, motioning towards the rifle with one hand as they walked.

"I don't know where it came from," Sayid replied. "It was at the campsite when I arrived there a couple of days ago, along with a few others, some food, and a guitar that Charlie has been playing almost nonstop for two days straight now." He smiled again, and Jack could not help but notice that this was the first time they had been together in a carefree manner, no feuds waging, no one on their death beds… just two friends, reuniting after… well, they did not exactly know how long it had been since their deaths. Jack mentally chided himself for not asking Ben about it when he had seen him, but he supposed it didn't matter now; he'd figure it out soon enough.

As they came upon the camp, Jack heard the euphonious strumming of a guitar, mixed with a few people talking, and after a moment, he could see Charlie paling away at his instrument, momentarily lost in his music until he caught the movement of their approach out of the corner of his eye. Jack saw Charlie do a double take before sitting upright and moving the guitar off of his lap slowly.

"Jack?' The British accented syllable brought the attention of the others around the fire to the direction of Jack and Sayid's approach. when he faintly came right up to the fire, Jack could make out the faces.

The first to stand and greet him was Michael, and Jack shook hands with him, trying to push aside the reminder than Michael had been the one to turn he and his friends over to the Others. The other two people at the camp Jack found a little more welcoming to see. Shannon ran up to him for a hug, and he embraced her, but not for too long because her brother was close behind. As Jack hugged Boone as well, he was reminded of the sense of complete and utter failure he and felt watching the young man die all that time ago. It was completely surreal to remember the dying boy, all bloody and bruised, and to see him before him now, healthy looking and very much alive. Whatever the reason they were all back here again, Jack was glad to see them.

The small group settled down around the fire, chatting and catching up on what had happened to each of them, and intermittently growing quiet to listen as Charlie strummed softly on his guitar. It was the most peaceful few hours any of them had ever experienced on that island, but they should have known better than to think it would last. Just a few hours after Jack had arrived, a piercing scream echoed from the jungle.

Jack and Sayid were on their feet immediately, calling to the others to stay where they were and dashing into the jungle in the direction from which the scream had emitted with Boone, ever willing to help, followed, disregarding the command to stay put. It did not take them long to find the source of the scream; through the dark of the night, they could barely make out a man dressed in black. He was about fifty yards down a hillside from Jack and the others, and he was holding another person around the throat with one hand, apparently trying to get something from them. A little easier to make out in the dark was the woman, wearing a light colored floral blouse an beige slacks, who Jack recognized as Amy Goodspeed from the Dharma Initiative.

Sayid instinctively raise his rifle to shoot, but Jack reacted quickly, holding a hand out to stop him from firing. The man in the dark clothes had noticed them, and had positioned himself so that the woman was between him and the man with the rifle. His eyes met Jack's, and it was clear he knew Jack, although Jack had never seen this man before in his life. Before Jack or his friends could make a move, the man released Amy, leaving her to fall to the ground, her hands raising to her throat as if to make sure she could still breathe, and the man took off into the night, leaving no trace behind that he was there at all.

Jack, Sayid, and Charlie rushed down the slope to Amy, and Jack helped her to her feet. She glanced around at the three men nervously as she accepted Jack's help, slowly rising to her feet still glancing quickly from face to face.

"Amy… hey. It's okay," Jack tried to calm the anxious woman, to no avail.

"Where's my husband?" Amy cried, looking past the three men now, searching for someone who was not there.

"What happened?" Jack tried to ask, but Amy ignored him, asking again, "Where's my husband? He was with me when that man came…" She trailed off, still looking around furiously.

"Hey…" Jack grabbed Amy by the shoulders, trying to get her attention. "Calm down. Getting worked up isn't going to do you any good. We'll find Horace, I promise."

Amy seemed to accept this, willing herself to take a couple of deep breaths and calm down, at Jack's command. Sayid went off a few yards to start looking around for Horace, while Charlie stood in place with a sort of dumbstruck look on his face, not quite knowing what was going on at all, and Jack continued to try to help Amy relax.

It was only a matter of a couple of minutes before they heard Sayid shout from a few dozen feet away, and the other three quickly made their way over to Sayid, who was kneeling beside a figure laying on the ground in a Dharma jumpsuit. "Horace!" Amy cried before running over and joining Sayid by her husband's side.

"Hmm… Amm…ee…" Horace mumbled, regaining focus and sitting up. Once the world around him stopped spinning, he stood and grabbed his wife in a desperate hug, making sure she was alright after their run in with the man in the dark clothes.

When the couple was satisfied that each other was safe, Jack stepped forward and asked, "What happened back there? Who was that man?"

Amy shook her head while Horace replied, "We don't know. I've never seen him before in my life. I don't even know what he wanted, he just showed up out of nowhere, knocked me out and went after Amy…"

Jack thought about this for a moment while glancing around the jungle surrounding them. "He could still be out there. We should get back to the beach." He stepped in the direction from which he, Sayid, and Charlie had come, pausing only briefly to check that the others where following before making his way through the jungle.

While he walked, Jack thought about the man they had seen attacking Amy. From what they had managed to see of him before he had taken off, the man was dressed in all black, and had short cropped salt-and-pepper hair. Who was this man? And more importantly, what was he after?


	7. Rubik's Cube

**A/N: I didn't forget about this fic, I swear! Here, have a chapter! It's short, but what held me up with posting this for so long was the simple fact that I didn't know where to go with it. So I just ended this one, moving on with the story. Reviews are welcomed, as always!**

_"I'm like a kid who just won't let it go._

_Twisting and turning the colors in rows._

_I'm so intent to find out what it is._

_This is my Rubik's cube,_

_I know I can figure it out."_

_-A_thlete

After spending so many years away from his island home, what was the first thing Richard had done upon arriving back on that patch of land that he had missed so much? Well, he went right back to the States, at Ben's request, for there were others who had missed some of the people who were now "back from the dead," so to say, as much as those who had come back on the Ajira plane had.

Why he had agreed to fetch these people, Richard did not fully understand. Perhaps it had to deal with the fact that he himself did not really have anyone on that island that he was eager to be reunited with, like all of the others did. James had Juliet. Kate had Jack. The only one Richard had ever loved like that had died centuries ago, off of the island, making it impossible that he would ever see her again.

Isabella…

Just the thought of her tore away at his heart like knives, even now, after all this time. It certainly did not feel like it had been almost two hundred years ago that he had lost his wife. His love for her was timeless, so strong that it would never fade, never grow any dimmer than the blazing fire it was.

Richard was jostled from his thoughts when he pulled his rental car up in front of his destination in this little Florida town.

He eyed the house, taking a deep breath to prepare himself for what he was about to do. He had been trying to think of what to say the entire duration of his trip from the island to here. How do you tell someone that their sister that they have not seen in a couple of decades died sixteen years ago on an island inhabited by scientific natives, polar bears, and a smoke monster and she had just come back to life, so this strange man with the dark eyelashes that had taken her sister away in the first place had come back to see if she wanted to go off with him to that same wretched island to see her sister that had magically come back from the dead?

Richard had to admit, he highly doubted Rachel Carlson was about to go with him anywhere, especially not the island.

Nonetheless, he stepped out of the car, keeping one eye on the house as he slammed the door shut. He walked up to the front, absentmindedly adjusting the sleeves of his navy button-down shirt which he had rolled up to just above his elbows.

After a brief hesitation, Richard raised one hand and knocked on the front door, still having not the slightest clue as to what he was going to say when he came face to face with Juliet's sister.

He did not have long to ponder it before Rachel herself opened the door, a polite smile plastered on her face. That smile quickly disappeared, along with the welcoming glow in her eyes, when she recognized the man before her. The last time she saw him was also the last time she saw her sister. Richard suddenly felt very foolish for even thinking that this idea might work out. Perhaps it was possible that the families of some of the other people who had returned on the island would blindly follow him to the island to see their loved ones, but there was no way in hell that Rachel would trust him enough to do so.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rachel wasted no time on small talk. Richard was speechless for a moment as he considered his options, but he finally decided to just come out and tell her the truth.

"I know you have every right to just slam the door on my face, but hear me out. Please." He gave her a pleading expression with his dark eyes, willing her to listen to what he had to say, even if it was not all that believable.

Rachel eyed him warily for a moment before responding, "You have five minutes."

Richard nodded before beginning, "Your sister is alive."

Rachel rolled her eyes in an exaggerated motion. "You're wasting my time. It's been almost twenty years, can't I just have some peace?"

"Listen to me Rachel, I know it's hard to believe. Trust me, I find it hard to believe myself, but your sister lived on that island for three years after she left with me. There was an accident… she died…."

"Wait, I thought you said she was alive?"

"She is. Just… would you believe me if I told you that anyone who ever died on that island just came back to life?"

"Mr. Alpert, you're testing my patience. Of course I don't believe you."

"Well, It's true. All of it."

"You're not exactly giving me any reason to believe you, or have you forgotten that it was you that I last saw my sister with before she disappeared?"

"I can prove it to you."

"Oh can you now?"

Richard pulled out a phone, going silent for a few moments while he tapped away on the screen. He hadn't wanted to show her this, but if it was the only way to get Rachel to the island, he'd do it. Showing Juliet a video of Rachel had proven to her that her sister was still alive; now, it was time to do the same for Rachel.

He held the phone out to her with the video pulled up on the screen. She took it and tapped at the screen, and the video that Ben had sent to him began to play.

Rachel stared blankly at the screen for a moment, trying to process what she was seeing. The video panned from a newspaper with the date on it, up to the smiling face of none other than Juliet Burke. Rachel's throat tightened as she watched her sister. All too soon, the video ended, and Rachel looked back up at Richard.

"When do we leave?"


End file.
